Money situation help needed

[searriagh]

First off, fantastic mod, i have played most and this one has a great feel and look to it. I enjoy the battles of SPQR, and having played a few custom battles on this mod it has the same level of control over your army and tactics.

The problem is I have started a campaign as Dyfneint (about 10 times), i just cant get a grip of the finances. I am minus fifty odd thousand, after a short number of turns.

I have decimated all the garrisons and kept only a small standing army to conquer rebels etc. How can i get out of the red and into the black in order to build.

Totally stuck and in dire need of some advice please.

[Dansk viking]

Almost every faction will get negative finances in the beginning of the game, but there are different ways of getting out of debt. I use this strategy, step by step:

- Use all starting money on buildings that will increase income. (my favorite is mining.)
- Gather all of your units in one army (or two depending on the starting position), only leaving one lowest upkeep unit in each city.
- Conquer enemy provinces to get higher income (bonus effect: losing units for lower upkeep.)

Pretty easy actually, because when you've lost most of your starting army,
you will have lower upkeep and have higher income because of the cities conquered.
Then you'll have positive income, and you can start improving your towns and rebuilding your army.

[Brusilov]

Don't forget to send diplomats out to get those trade rights with everyone you can.

It may take a short time before the benefits of trade help but with any RTW mod you need all the help you can get.

You could consider disbanding some of your army to reduce it's upkeep. The downside of that is if an AI faction attacks you may not have the forces to repulse them.

In extreme circumstances decide to let the smallest settlements rebel - it may be a way to consolidate your holdings before being able to expand. Again, that means you won't have any trade from that settlement - don't believe the income on the strategy map as that includes a portion of the upkeep of all your armies, agents and family members. By giving a settlement it means that upkeep has to be taken on by your other settlements.

It's all a juggling act to be honest.

[Juvenal]

Playing Letau I just went a-conquering until my reducing army became supportable from my increasing empire.

However Dyfnient is particularly badly off financially, I believe the best thing to do is to accept the Saxon ceasefire offer, but demand lots of cash for it. This will give you a nest-egg to get your infrastructure building started without disbanding the entire army.

I don't think intial blitzing works for Dyfnient because the Saxons are so damned hard (they must eat girders for breakfast ).

[searriagh]

thanks for the tips, this is basically what I have been doing, but as the debt just keeps growing and growing I couldn't see a way out. But i will take your word for it that it eventually evens itself out.

[searriagh]

Meant to post this earlier, but for anyone reading this all of the above was true, just keep faith and keep going and you eventually turn the money into the black.

[Venta Icenor Um]

Can anyone please tell me how to succeed as the Angles? everytime i start a campaign as them i end up in about 50 grand worth of dept with an army which has been exhausted by the Elmet, who's main purpose seems to be stopping my angry settlements from rebelling and of course while all this is going on, Ebrauc are rising, oh and my diplomats don't have enough influence to negotiate a ceasefire with either faction. What can i do?

[Dansk viking]

The Angles are my favorite faction, and I recommend the strategy I posted above:

Almost every faction will get negative finances in the beginning of the game, but there are different ways of getting out of debt. I use this strategy, step by step:

- Use all starting money on buildings that will increase income. (my favorite is mining.)
- Gather all of your units in one army (or two depending on the starting position), only leaving one lowest upkeep unit in each city.
- Conquer enemy provinces to get higher income (bonus effect: losing units for lower upkeep.)

Pretty easy actually, because when you've lost most of your starting army,
you will have lower upkeep and have higher income because of the cities conquered.
Then you'll have positive income, and you can start improving your towns and rebuilding your army.

You have to be aggressive; I use to eliminate Elmet after about 10-15 turns. I keep neutral with the rebels, as a war against them would force me to fight on two fronts. Also keep in mind to have some territory between you and the Picts, as they are very aggressive and will make you fight full stack armies almost every turn (own experience). Another important thing to keep in mind is that you'll - whether you want to or not- have to fight the Jutes, when they don't have room to expand anywhere else. The Briton armies are pretty easy to fight off in comparisson to the Jutes and the Saxons, so you can't stay defensive against them. You have to eliminate the Jutes and eventually maybe even the Saxons.

In my longest campaign (VH/VH), my Angle empire stretched from Kent to Hadrians wall and split England into two. I'd just eliminated the Jutes, and crushed about 10 pictish full stack armies (and a few Ynis Manau), as Cerdic and Cynric emerged, and then both the Saxons and Gwent attacked... but the 509 crash, caused by Cerdics army being too big, forced me to start over.

[swabian]

Omg, still this damn Cerdic-bug... i assure this will be over in 071, which will arrive soon btw. Just a few days.

[Dansk viking]

Omg, still this damn Cerdic-bug... i assure this will be over in 071, which will arrive soon btw. Just a few days.

I actually fixed my save by recruiting tons of assassins and killing Cerdic

[Dansk viking]

It was an old save, I fixed the problem afterwards in my own install. But yeah, it realy has to be fixed for 0.71

[Venta Icenor Um]

Eugh, just tried again, i got into 58 K of dept when the people of Lundein rebelled (Ebrauc offered a ceasefire so i took it and set my attention South to the nice, virtually unguarded and surrounded by Pagan regions, rebel settlements of Caer Mincip and Lundein) which meant my treasury stayed at a constant 43 K. Then, Ebrauc decided they had had enough of this ceasefire and attacked Leidis, the same turn, Gwent attacked Durocobrivae...

But you say a new version will be out soon? maybe it will be worth waiting for that first as i really want to succeed as the Angles

[Dansk viking]

Instead of concentrating on the southern and western regions, you should try and conquer the northern Elmet and Ebrauc regions (You might want to keep Ebrauc between you and the Picts). Otherwise you'll just end up bordering too many factions: Gwent, Powys, the Jutes and the Saxons, Dumonia, Reghed. Actually, it's a good idea to have as few neighbours as possible.

[Jingles]

I've started a campaign as Gwynned (sp?) and I've found it immensley enjoyable. I havent been in the black since I started, but With one army comprised of a family member with his Teulu, and 4 units of those Welsh pony riders (I forget their names, but theyr'e armed with axes and javelins) I've managed to steamroll eastwards, all the way into Ebrauc's territory with this single army, losing on average about 3 men per battle (LOL). I'm beginning to feel like the huns! Unfortunately however, Ynis Manaw have started landing raiding parties in my home territories by sea, even after they got beaten off badly earlier by my 8 star King. I'm still badly in the red, but I managed to get back 10,000 in a deal with Rheged, and whenever somone attacks, I always seem to scrape enough men together to defeat the invaders. Mainly thanks to those almost invincible Teulu bodyguards.